Where we share the beauty of the changing seasons on our 48 acre off grid homestead in the Cariboo Chilcotin. Where Touch Wood Rings are created, and where we live and work and play. 'The Homestone' is the name of the boulder that marks the entrance to our place.

Friday, December 14, 2012

What a life! So lucky we are. Surrounded by crown land, we enjoy a whole forest of Christmas trees that decorate themselves with bits of leftover autumn

and then the finishing touches delivered by frost and snow and if you come along at just the right moment you'll be rewarded by the most energetic little decorations in the guise of chickadees flying smartly from branch to tree and calling brightly to anyone who will listen. This photo is borrowed from one of my favorite bird sites All About Birds

Perhaps this winter I will get some nice pics of our own chickadee 'decorations'.

Speaking of decorations, I think it may have been a farmer who came up with the idea of metallic Christmas tree tinsel ...

In late October we brought the bales in off the back meadows. The big round hay bales sit high up on the forks at the front of the tractor.

As
the bales brushed past trees in one tight spot in particular, just at
the beginning of the path that leads from the creek, strands of hay were
snagged and hung up on the tips of branches.

A
few days later a good hoarfrost lit up the meadow and those
strands of hay dangled like the finishing touches of tinsel deftly placed by my mothers hand.

I didn't get a good photo but it's a sight I'll not soon forget.

It feels like Christmas this morning after snowing all day yesterday. The sun is coming up bright and beautiful on our winter white world. David and I will be going on a walk about shortly to take it all in and take some photos too.

Tuesday, December 04, 2012

The sun was shining on the meadow today like only a December sun can shine. About 6:10 this morning I opened the kitchen side door that over looks the meadow and was greeted by the back and forth calls of our coyote pair.

Life is returning to a more familiar rhythm for us after a really tough few weeks.

Many of you know about our recent difficulties but for those of you who don't, and without going into great detail ~ please accept our apologies for being slow to respond to your emails.

Quite suddenly and very sadly, David's father died in hospital on November 16th. Charles had fallen at his home and fractured his hip. He underwent a successful surgery but a series of postoperative complications were just too hard on his 88 years. He was tremendously loved and will be sorely missed. David also landed in hospital in November and is now awaiting a
date for another surgery on his back and a hip replacement.

As with any adversity there are up sides and there is always much to be thankful for.

When life gets tough ... one of my coping stratagies is either to clean something or to cook. :)

This cornbread is way up on my list of comfort foods. It's so easy and makes an ordinary pot of soup or even an uninspired salad into a delicious and enjoyable meal.

Here's the recipe. With love.

Cornbread ~ Nick's favourite.

Use a 9 inch baking dish or a shallow 1 quart
casserole for this cornbread. Combine a tablespoon each of butter and
oil in pan and place in or on the stove for a few minutes to melt the
butter and warm the dish. In a bowl mix the following ingredients
together and then pour into the hot baking dish. Return to a hot
oven (425) for about 30 minutes until set. The recipe doubles
nicely too using a 9x13 pan.

3/4 cup cornmeal
1 egg (slightly beaten) or substitute 1 tablespoon ground flax seed and a bit of water roughly equivalent to an eggs worth of moisture. (A vegan trick I learned that I often use in place of an egg in baking).
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon honey

1 1/2 cups yogurt ( I prefer a heavy 6% Balkan yogurt as it gives the cornbread a firmer consistency and less of the pudding consistency that it takes on with limper yogurt ~ both taste great though)

That's it. Enjoy.And thank you all so much for your warmth and good thoughts and prayers during these difficult times we've just come through. We are looking forward to a sweeter gentler month ahead.

Monday, October 22, 2012

We’re tucked in at the homestead for a bit of a stretch now hopefully. We made a trip to town on Friday to look after business and stock up on supplies. We awoke to snow Saturday morning and discovered with delight from the kitchen window, half a dozen Canadian Geese just the other side of the zig-zag fence. A few were up and grooming themselves, the others were still snuggled into the grass with their wings tucked tightly against themselves.

Soon they are all up and at it

Even the straggler

They stayed all day, and Sunday too. They followed David and the tractor around the fields as he collected up the round bales to a central spot for transport.

The snow really tried to get serious over the weekend stealing our sunshine and our power ...

It's a lovely thing though... I look forward to the first snow.

No complaints; just a bit of a scramble getting those winterizing jobs finished up before the season really settles in. One never knows ... we might get another months reprieve, and it might just keep on coming. Hard to say. It is that time of year.

Along with the weather system this weekend came a young Evening Grosbeak male who we sure hope finds his way
back to his flock. He was very wet and looking a bit bedraggled as he
arrived at our feeder ~ no doubt blown off course. We can only
offer him sustenance (LOTS of sunflower seeds) and wish him well. And we are hopeful that the five Red Winged Blackbirds who also arrived with the storm will take him under their wing(s) so that he has some grown ups to look out for him.

He's very tame and is quite comfy with either of us just a few feet away ~ he seems to enjoy the conversation and the company.

A junco has been staying close to the house too these last few days. As unlikely as it seems; the Junco and the Grosbeak appear to be quite friendly with each other. They arrive at the feeder at the same time and take their meals together.

Oh... our Grosbeak is looking much better in the sunshine this afternoon. Our first sunshine in five days.

We humans brighten up considerably to see the sunshine and we can only imagine how wonderful it must feel to our winter chilled feathered friends.